Beauties of Tropical Vegetation.

— It is under theburning rays of a tropical sun that vegetation displays its mostmajestic forms. In the cold north the bark of trees is coveredwith lichens and mosses, whilst between the tropics the cym-bidium and fragrant vanilla enliven the trunks of the anacardiaand of the gigantic fig-trees. The fresh verdure of the pothosleaves, and of the dracontias, contrasts with the many-colouredflowers of the orchideæ. Climbing banhinias, passifloras, andyellow flowering banisterias, twine round the trunks of theforest trees. Delicate blossoms spring from the roots of thetheobroma, and from the thick and rough bark of the crescen-tias and the gustavia. In the midst of this profusion of flowersand fruits, and in the luxuriant interturnings of the climbingplants, the naturalist often finds it difficult to discover to whichstem the different flowers and leaves really belong. A singletree adorned with paullinias, bignonias, and dendrobium, forma group of plants which, if disentangled and separated fromeach other, would cover a considerable space of ground. Inthe tropics vegetation is generally of a fresher verdure, moreluxuriant and succulent, and adorned with larger and moreshining leaves than in our northern climates. The “social”plants, which often impart so uniform and monotonous a cha-racter to European countries, are almost entirely absent in the equatorial regions. Trees almost as lofty as our oaks areadorned with flowers as large and beautiful as our lilies. Onthe shady banks of the Rio Madalena in South America, theregrows a climbing aristolochia bearing flowers four feet in cir-cumference, which the Indian boys draw over their heads insport, and wear as hats or helmets. In the islands of the IndianArchipelago, the flower of the rafflesia is nearly three feet indiameter, and weighs above fourteen pounds.... Theseand many other of the enjoyments which nature affords arewanting to the nations of the north. Many constellations andmany vegetable forms, and of the latter those which are themost beautiful, remain for ever unknown to them. Individualplants languishing in our hot-house, can give a very faint ideaof the majestic vegetation of the tropical zone. But the highcultivation of our languages, the glowing fancy of the poet,and the imitative art of the painter, open to us sources whenceflow abundant compensations, and from whence our imagina-tion can derive the living image of that more vigorous naturewhich other climes display. In the frigid north, in the midstof the barren heath, the solitary student can appropriate men-tally all that has been discovered in the most distant regions,and can create within himself a world free and imperishable asthe spirit by which it is conceived.— Humboldt’s Aspects ofNature.